Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The paper explores how Meena Kandasamy's When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife attacks patriarchal oppression and promotes female autonomy by delving into the feminist conflicts the novel portrays. Based on the horrific experience of an abusive marriage, the story presents an honest and unvarnished picture of the protagonist's struggle against both psychological and physical abuse. Kandasamy challenges social norms that support silence and subjection by exposing the systematic basis of gender-based oppression through a compelling first-person narrative. In addition to highlighting the protagonist's individual fight to regain her voice and autonomy, the book offers a wider reflection on the struggle that all women face when they are imprisoned in repressive systems. The paper looks at the ways in which Kandasamy challenges patriarchal power structures and asserts feminist resistance through the use of literary techniques like metafiction and autobiographical components. The study also looks at how gender, caste, and class are intertwined, showing how these elements exacerbate the protagonist's fight for independence. The study hopes to highlight the value of storytelling as a tactic of resistance and the necessity of feminism's unity in the face of patriarchal violence through this approach.
Author: Dr. Sridevi T
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4405912884